Padua’s Roman Arena

See what remains of the city of Patavium

Some remains of the Roman amphiteatre are
still visible in the Giardino dell'Arena

Padua is believed to be one of the oldest cities in northern Italy. It was founded in about 1183 BC by the Trojan prince, Antenor.

The Roman writer, Livy, records an attempted invasion of the city by the Spartans in 302 BC. Later attempts at invasions were made unsuccessfully by the Etruscans and Gauls. The city formed an alliance with Rome against their common enemies and it became a Roman municipium in about 49BC. By the end of the first century BC, Padua was the wealthiest city in Italy, apart from Rome.

The Roman name for Padua was Patavium. There isn’t much of Roman Patavium left now, but to get some idea of what it would have looked like, it is worth stopping off to see the remains of the Roman Amphitheatre, or Arena as it was known, which is in Padua’s Giardino dell’Arena, a beautiful public park.

If you leave the railway station, or bus station, and walk towards the city centre along the Corso del Popolo and Corso Garibaldi, you will pass the Giardino dell’Arena on the left-hand side where you will see the remains of one of the original elliptical walls of the Arena. It was probably built during the time of the Emperor Claudius, between about 60 and 70 AD.

The Scrovegni family built a chapel in
gardens, decorated by Giotto

An archaeological project to uncover the remains of the Arena began in 1881 and the area was cleared of weeds and a wall was demolished to provide a better view of what was still standing.

The main entrance would have been near the present-day Piazza Eremitani and on the opposite side would have been the porta libitensis, the door of the dead, through which the bodies of the dead gladiators would have been taken.

Within the elliptical wall, which originally had 80 arches, would have been a circle supported by a barrel vault on which the steps of the auditorium were arranged. Its style and dimensions are believed to have been similar to those of the Roman Arena in Verona.

In the 14th century the site was acquired by the Scrovegni family who had a chapel built on it in their name. They commissioned the artist, Giotto, to decorate it with his wonderful frescoes depicting events in the life of the Virgin May and Christ. Today these frescoes are considered to be some of the greatest works of art in the world.

The Arena is open for visitors to look round it every day from 7.00 am, but the site closes earlier in the winter than in the summer.

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Church of the Eremitani frescoes

The day a major work of art was ruined by bombs

Mantegna's Stories of St James
was one of the works destroyed 

Padua was badly bombed by the Allies on this day in 1944 and the Church of the Eremitani was directly hit, causing devastating damage to the 15th century frescoes painted by Andrea Mantegna in one of the side chapels.

It was one of the worst losses suffered by Italy’s cultural heritage during World War II as Mantegna’s frescoes were considered a major work of art.

Mantegna, who was born in Isola di Cartura near Vicenza in 1431, was commissioned to paint a cycle of frescoes in the Ovetari Chapel, one of the side chapels, depicting scenes from the lives of Saint James and Saint Christopher. The commission marked the beginning of his artistic career when he started work at the age of 17 in 1448. He was in his mid 20s by the time he had finished the cycle in 1457.

Tragically, the German invading army had established their headquarters in Padua next to the Church of the Eremitani, which was why the chapel and the wonderful frescoes were so badly damaged.

They were reduced to more than 88,000 separate pieces and were found mixed in with plaster and bricks on the ground.

A detailed photographic survey of the work had been made previously and it was therefore possible later to reconstruct the artist’s work and recompose part of the cycle depicting the Martyrdom of Saint James. Other frescoes by Mantegna had been removed before the war to protect them from damp and they have also now been reinstated.

In other chapels, 14th century frescoes by Guarentio and Giusto de’ Menabuoi miraculously survived.

The Church of the Eremitani found itself
next door to a German army headquarters

La Chiesa degli Eremitani, or The Church of the Hermits, is a former Augustinian Gothic-style church close to the Cappella Scrovegni in Piazza Eremitani in the centre of Padua.

The church was built for Augustinian friars between 1260 and 1276 and dedicated to the Saints Philip and James.

The friars remained in the church and adjoining monastery until 1806 when Padua was under Napoleonic rule and the order was suppressed. The church was reopened for services in 1808 and became a parish church in 1817.

The church has a single nave with plain walls decorated with ochre and red bricks and has a vaulted wooden ceiling. It houses the ornate tombs of two lords of Padua, Jacopo II da Carrara and Ubertino da Carrara, designed by Andriolo de Santi.

The 15th century side portal is also known as the Door of the Months because of the four panels by the sculptor Nicolo Baroncelli depicting allegories of the months.

The Musei Civici agli Eremitani (Civic Museum) of Padua is now housed in the former Augustinian monastery to the left of the church.

(Picture credit: Church of the Eremitani by Didier Descouens via Wikimedia Commons)

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Remembering the genius of Renaissance artist Giotto

The brilliant 14th century painter Giotto di Bondone, who gave Padova its greatest work of art, died on 8 January in 1337 in Florence.

Giotto's depiction of the Last Judgment on the
frescoed walls of the Scrovegni Chapel in Padova

Although much of his work is no longer in existence, the artist who was known simply as Giotto is remembered after nearly 700 years as one of the greatest painters of the early Renaissance period.

It is believed Giotto was born in about 1267 in Florence but it is not known how he learned to paint with such a sense of space, naturalism and drama. His work represented a crucial turning point in the history of art because he painted lifelike, solid figures and put in fascinating background details.

He is believed to be the first artist to make a decisive break with the Byzantine style of painting and draw figures accurately from life.

Giotto’s revolutionary style was followed by many other painters later in the 14th century and it is said that he was actually paid a salary by the commune of Florence because of his excellence.

His most stunning surviving work is undoubtedly the interior of the Scrovegni chapel in Padova. His cycle of frescoes is still considered to be one of the greatest works of art in the world.

Dedicated to Santa Maria della Carita (Saint Mary of the Charity), the chapel was decorated by Giotto between 1303 and 1305. The work was commissioned by Enrico degli Scrovegni, who was hoping to atone for the sins of usury committed by himself and his dead father.

The frescoes narrate events in the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ and cover the side walls of the chapel. On the wall opposite the altar is Giotto’s magnificent Universal Judgment, which tells the story of human salvation and includes the figure of Enrico degli Scrovegni offering up a model of the chapel to the Virgin Mary in a desperate bid to save his father from hell.

Under a bright blue sky, the realistic figures with their powerful facial expressions and colourful clothes tell the bible stories in a way they had never been told before.
In later life, Giotto was made ‘first court painter’, with a yearly pension by King Robert of Anjou in Naples. He lived in Naples till 1333 but none of his work there has survived.

On his return to Florence he was asked to design the new Campanile for the Cathedral in 1334 and his last known work was the decoration of a chapel in the Bargello.
It is thought Giotto was about 70 years of age when he died on 8 January 1337.

The Scrovegni Chapel in Parco della Arena

Some sources say he was buried in Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence’s Duomo, while others believe he was buried in the earlier church on the site, Santa Reparata.
In the 1970s bones were discovered beneath the paving of Santa Reparata and forensic examination confirmed they were those of a painter.

The bones were reburied with honour near the grave of Brunelleschi in the church, but it is still by no means certain they are actually the remains of Giotto.

It is a miracle Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel have survived for nearly 700 years. The chapel was acquired by the city of Padova in 1880 and specialised restoration operations have been carried out to preserve them subsequently.

The building, the quality of air and the best way to conserve the frescoes have all been carefully studied.

The chapel can be accessed from Giardini dell’Arena off Piazza Eremitani. There is a separate building where visitors can watch a video to prepare them for seeing the frescoes.

Visits are carefully organised so people can enter the chapel and look at the frescoes without jeopardising their condition.

Tickets should be booked in advance and collected an hour before the visit. For details visit www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it.

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Agli Eremitani Ristorante Pizzeria

Dine well at traditional restaurant and pizzeria in the heart of Padua

 

Tucked away under the porticos of Via Porciglia, the Agli Eremitani restaurant and pizzeria is handily placed for visitors to the Scrovegni Chapel, home to Giotto’s amazing frescoes, or the Eremitani museum complex.

Agli Eremitani is at Via Porciglia 29

The restaurant serves pizza and speciality dishes from the Veneto using local, seasonal ingredients. They also offer seafood from the nearby Adriatic and international dishes.

Diners have the choice of a secluded alcove in one of the smaller, wood-panelled rooms, a table in the large room with gardens on two sides or an outside table during the summer.

Agli Eremitani serve more than 100 different types of pizza. Their specialty dish is scialatelli ai crostacei (scialatelli with a sauce made from shellfish). The restaurant pride themselves on the range and quality of the wines they keep in their cantina.

Close to the University, Agli Eremitani frequently host lunches and dinners to celebrate le feste di laurea (degree celebrations).

Agli Eremitani is open from 12.00 to 15.00 and from 18.30 to 1.00 am every day except Monday.

For more information or to book a table visit www.eremitani.net.

Scrovegni Chapel houses one of world’s greatest masterpieces

Stunning colours characterise
the chapel's frescoes

Padova’s reputation as a city of art is well and truly endorsed by Giotto’s amazing frescoes in la Cappella degli Scrovegni (the Scrovegni Chapel).

The frescoes are the only example of Giotto’s work in Padova, but are considered to be one of the greatest works of art in the world.

Dedicated to Santa Maria della Carita (Saint Mary of the Charity), the chapel was decorated with frescoes by Giotto between 1303 and 1305. He was commissioned to paint the frescoes by Enrico degli Scrovegni, who was hoping to atone for the sins of usury committed by himself and his dead father.

The frescoes narrate events in the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ and the stunning scenes cover the side walls of the chapel. On the wall opposite the altar is Giotto’s magnificent Universal Judgment, which tells the story of human salvation and includes the figure of Enrico degli Scrovegni offering up a model of the chapel to the Virgin Mary in a desperate bid to save his father from hell.

Under a bright blue sky, the realistic figures with their powerful facial expressions and colourful clothes tell the compelling bible stories in a way that they had never been told before. The frescoes are universally acknowledged as a major artistic development, marking the beginning of modern art in Europe and the break with the Byzantine tradition.

Giotto was born in 1267 in Florence , where he learnt to paint with a sense of space, naturalism and drama. His revolutionary style was followed by many other painters in Padova later in the 14th century.

It is a miracle that these beautiful, colourful frescoes have survived as well as they have for the last 700 years.

The chapel was acquired by the city of Padova in 1880 and several specialised restoration operations have been carried out on them. Since the 1970s, the state of the building, the quality of air, polluting factors and the conservation of the frescoes themselves, have all been the subject of careful study.

The chapel can be accessed from Giardini dell’Arena off Piazza Eremitani, which is a short walk from the railway station along Corso del Popolo.

There is a special access building where visitors can wait and watch a video to prepare them for seeing the frescoes. The visits are carefully organised so that people can continue to enter the chapel and look at the frescoes without further jeopardising their condition.

Tickets for the Scrovegni Chapel should be booked in advance and collected one hour before the scheduled time for the visit.

For more information visit www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it

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